Chinese assets
As the year of Sars comes to a close, it was all too predictable that we would be reminded of the epidemic's staying power. Another case surfaced in Taiwan on Wednesday, leading to fast reactions in Hong Kong and across the region.
Can Hong Kong do a better job with Sars, Round Two, than it did last March? As we recall all too easily, a fog of indecision, panic and official gridlock reinforced apprehensions about government mismanagement and fed into the massive displays of public discontent on July 1 and afterwards.
But the question is not just about the ability to manage a medical crisis or satisfy a craving for democracy. The re-emergence of severe acute respiratory syndrome reminds us that Hong Kong itself is in a fragile state of social, political and economic health. Hong Kong has been all too slow to shake off its post-1997 malaise. Unless it can begin to put its considerable assets to work solving Sars and other problems, each new crisis will only make things worse.
As a non-Chinese expatriate living in Hong Kong for just a few years, I do not feel that I have any magic answers. However, in a week that saw the resurfacing of Sars, two other S-words provide some hope.
One was Hong Kong's response to the capture of Saddam Hussein. This may seem like belabouring the obvious, but when Hussein's bearded, dishevelled face suddenly appeared on the evening news last Sunday, people here instantly tied the event to its geopolitical implications for Hong Kong and China, by way of the US presidential elections next year.
Hong Kong's chattering classes and money people operate on the cusp of global events. So do their counterparts in London and New York, and perhaps Tokyo. But China's other major cities have yet to experience the same degree of interconnectedness, and this represents an advantage for Hong Kong.
The third S-word is Santa, the highly commercialised icon of the Christian nativity. One cannot imagine an image less foreign to the Chinese drama, and yet here in Hong Kong, Santa Claus and other paraphernalia associated with Christmas are embraced, and not just by retailers.
Here, the sensibility is more akin to Manhattan, where holidays like Rosh Hoshana, Christmas, the African-American Kwanzaa, and Chinese New Year all blend into one long party season. Hong Kong's tolerance of diversity stems from its long exposure to a non-Chinese world with different value systems, races, and beliefs. Civilisations do not clash in Hong Kong; they mingle.
This, too, gives Hong Kong an edge over other Chinese cities. Hong Kong represents China's comfort zone in dealing with the rest of the world, and shows where other Chinese cities may be shortly, as barriers continue to come down. Viewing Hong Kong in the light of its international assets may be threatening to Chinese who feel close to China's recent history of exploitation by foreign powers. Yet for any student of Chinese history and philosophy, Hong Kong's spiritual resources are as Chinese as they are universal.
The strategic habit of mind is instinctive in a tradition where self-cultivation, or xiuyang, has long been seen as both a political and personal ideal. The phrase conjures up maturity, objectivity, logical clarity and compassion; in other words, man going beyond the narrow bonds of selfish or parochial interests.
Generosity of spirit also comes naturally to a society that traditionally has given a central place to the concept of ren, or benevolence. As we encounter next year's crises, let's hope that Hong Kong's leaders and its people can build from strength. While from a Chinese perspective, Hong Kong's strengths may have a foreign flavour, to this writer they seem in the best sense Chinese.
Edith Terry is editor of the Post's opinion pages
